


I can be bent but not broken

by RandomFanfictions



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Hurt Peter Parker, I should stop tagging now, May is awesome just in general, Panic Attacks, Peter Needs a Hug, Peters a dork, Physical Therapy, Sensory Overload, Tony is a good dad, Worried Tony, dad! tony, i love tony so much, like really bad, okay im done with tags, peter doesnt deserve to feel bad but he does anyways, peter has scoliosis, peter whump, spiderman homecoming - Freeform, tony stark is iron dad, tonys a dork
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2018-12-14 21:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11791806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomFanfictions/pseuds/RandomFanfictions
Summary: This fix is about Peter having scoliosis, an irregular cure of the spine and having to go through physical therapy (scroth method, the clear method, bracing, etc.)----"Aunt May, I swear, I'm fine! It's probably just sprained, that's all!""I don't believe it at all. Come on. We're going to the doctors and that's final. You need to get a physical anyways.""What? No! No doctors needed. I'm completely healthy."Peter Parker goes to the doctor to check out his ankle and get a routine physical, he find out a little more than he wanted. When the doctor tells him to touch his toes so they could check his spine, the teen thought it was a little dumb."Peter, it appears your spine is curved." The doctor sighed "It looks as though you have mild scoliosis."NOTE: I am like, the worst when it comes to consistent updates so like, just assume that I'll go months without updating but I promise i wont just abandon this piece





	1. Chapter 1

Hey y'all, so this is _not_ my first fanfiction, it's just my first on this account/platform and I don't have someone to proofread everything before I post, so sorry in advance for any errors I have. Also, I'm not like, an expert Marvel fan or anything, so sorry for getting any details wrong. This is supposed to be set right after Spider-Man: Homecoming, but this story is pretty much just going to be like taking all the Marvel characters and putting them in a completely different universe where they just kind of react to whatever situation I put them in. 

Oh and one more thing to those who don't know what scoliosis is, it's an abnormal curve of the spine. In some cases, its very minimal and doesn't cause pain and can be left alone as long as it doesn't continue to grow, but other times, it can continue curving and become so large it requires surgery to fix it. This fic will be not so much about surgery than it is with physical therapy and all the different methods, Schroth method, Clear method, bracing, etc. A lot of what I'm going to be writing is based on my own personal experiences mixed with some experiences of people I know, and to be quite frank, this is going to be helping me get a lot of weight off my back (haha) and it's kid of a coping method for literally everything that chenged. I mean, one day I'm a human pretzel and tackling people in Brazilian Jujitsu, the next I'm encased in a really small and uncomfortable piece of thick plastic barely able to move. 

Anyways the real story begins next chapter. Warning, there might be some triggering things as the fic goes on, I tend to be a very angsty writer, but there will also be plenty of fluffiness and Dad!Tony because Tony Stark is definitely Iron Dad.

-Lyra


	2. Chapter 2

"Aunt May, I swear, I'm fine! It's probably just sprained, that's all!" Peter whined.

"I don't believe you at all. Come on. We're going to the doctor's and that's final." she replied "You need a physical anyways, its been far too long since your last one" May added

"What? No! No physical needed. I'm healthy! Completely A-ok!" He tried worming his way out.

"I know that, but the doctor needs to make sure you don't have cancer or something." Peter looked at her confusingly "Well I guess that's a bit extreme, but you know what I mean. I'll call in and see if they have any time this week."

The teen groaned. He knew his aunt only wants what's best for him but sometimes he wished she could just give him some space. Hopefully by the time he goes to the doctor, his foot would've healed. After a bad run in with some criminals, Peter twisted his foot badly trying to save an old woman from some petty thief. When May had noticed he was limping just a little, he tried playing it off as a skateboard injury, and thankfully she didn't press, but she looked suspicious.

"Okay, I made an appointment and you're getting a check up tomorrow." she said, looking up from her phone "I'm also ordering dinner, I need to go grocery shopping and you're not going out like that, so which do you want, Thai or pizza?"

"Thai for sure."

\---------

The two ate dinner in a comfortable silence, a local new channel playing in the background. Peter was zoning out for the most part, remembering that he has a Spanish quiz tomorrow that he still had to study for. (God, he had to get better at managing his school life and Spider-Man life) Soon enough, he grabbed himself a second helping of food, shoveling it down his throat when he remembered that he promised Ned that he'd tell him all about his latest adventure as a vigilante. Peter finished the remainder of his Thai then mumbled an apology to Aunt May about some project he needed to finished, then he escaped to his room.

 

**Bugboy** : I'm back and no i didnt die  
 **GuyInTheChair** : finally took you long enough  
 **GuyInTheChair** : you said you'd only be gone for an hour  
 **Bugboy** : ik, ik, but there was a bank robbery and then some guy stole a bike and an old lady was getting mugged  
 **Bugboy** : do u rlly think im gunna let an old lady get mugged, ned?  
 **GuyInTheChair** : no...  
 **GuyInTheChair** : did you get hurt or anything  
 **Bugboy** : i think i twisted my ankle and may wants to take me to the doctor  
 **Bugboy** : my back hurts a little too but i think its bc i was thrown into a wall  
 **GuyInTheChair** : wait May wants to take you to the doctor? are they gunna draw your blood or something?  
 **GuyInTheChair** : what if they find out youre spiderman  
 **Bugboy** : oh shoot you're right, ned  
 **GuyInTheChair** : I always am  
 **Bugboy** : shit   
**Bugboy** : maybe i can ask may to cancel  
 **GuyInTheChair** : what if you ask Mr. Stark  
 **Bugboy** : ask Mr. Stark?! I cant do that! i mean i havent talked to him since I said no to him when he asked me to be an avenger!  
 **Bugboy** : it'll be weird to just randomly call him after not talking to him for like a few months  
 **GuyInTheChair** : WAIT  
 **GuyInTheChair** : HE ASKED YOU IF YOU WANTED TO BE AN AVENGER  
 **GuyInTheChair** : YOU NEVER TOLD ME THAT  
 **GuyInTheChair** : !!!WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME!!!  
 **Bugboy** : I never told you because i feel stupid because i rly want to be an avenger but i said no for some reason and idk why i said no  
 **GuyInTheChair** : ill forgive you for now because youre in a crisis but you rly should see if you can ask mr stark to make up an excuse like that ur internship covers doctors or something like that  
 **Bugboy** : ned im so glad youre my friend  
 **GuyInTheChair** : you're welcome :)

\-------  
Hastily Peter scrolled through his contacts until he found the one he was looking for: Tony Stark. He pressed call and lifted the phone to his ear, hearing it ring once before the billionaire picked up.

"Hey, Pete, is everything okay? You hurt?" he asked immediately

"I'm fine, Mr. Stark, well I mostly am." the teen paused "When I was out on patrol, I kind of twisted my foot by landing on it wrong and I guess my aunt saw me limping a little so now she wants to take me to the doctor for a checkup" 

"Well what's so bad with getting a check-oh, radioactive spider-kid. Right, tell her that your internship covers doctor appointments, hospital visits, yadda yadda yadda, and you can come by and get checked up on by our med team." he replied easily.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark, sorry for getting you involved with this." 

"No, its no problem kid, just be more careful. Don't forget: Happy's picking you up Friday so we can upgrade the suit. You could get checked-up then too if you want." 

"Thanks Mr. Stark."

The call ended and Peter let out huff of air. He brought himself to his feet, feeling his body protest as he forced his sore muscles to make their way to his aunt. He shuffled along to the living room where his aunt sat on the couch, still watching whatever local news channel was on. 

"Hey, aunt May, so uh, I just remembered something Mr. Stark had told me when I first got my internship." May's attention snapped away from the tv "Uh, he said something about having all of my medical bills being covered and like, I could get checked out 'n stuff over there."

"All the bills would be covered?" she asked

"Yeah, hospital visits, doctor appointments, medicine, everything. I guess he wants to make sure his intern is healthy." the teen laughed.

"I guess I could cancel your appointment with Doctor Anove..." Aunt May began trailing "Just call Mr. Stark to make sure he knows." 

"He's going to pick me up to work on somethings in the lab on Friday, so I could probably get a check up at the same time over there."

"Okay, honey."

Peter walked back to his room. slinking down into his chair, he pulled out his Spanish notes and began memorizing phrases. It was kind of dumb what their quiz was going to be. You were supposed to tell someone how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sounds easy enough, but you had to be incredibly specific, like telling them to unscrew the lid by turning it to the left seven times. 

He looked at the alarm clock on his desk, it was only 10:30. Why was he so tired, he'd been sleeping more than usual, a whole four hours! And he wasn't even out crime-fighting for that long, Peter was only out for like, three hours before he got a text from his aunt saying she got out of work early. He tried to work on some other homework for another hour or so, but then his vision started going spotty. Before he passed out on top of all his homework, he got up and stumbled into bed, deciding that whatever he didn't finish, could be done right before the teacher collected it. 

\-------------

Wednesday was boring, and the highlights of Thursday were spaghetti for lunch and a robber trying to steal a giant hello-kitty plush from a toy store. When it finally reached Friday, Peter was almost relieved he would have the weekend, and that he would be working on projects with Tony Stark in his lab! Everything was great until the last bell rang and his phone buzzed with a little reminded May had him set. Crap. He still had a doctor's appointment. At least it would be with some doctors who are professionals in the mutant human field. 

"So are you coming over to my place tonight or no?" Ned asked, snapping Peter from his thoughts.

"Wha-oh, no I can't. Sorry, Ned. I'm going upstate to work on some...spider related things." he said coolly "I also have a check-up over there too, but still." 

"That's alright, man, maybe we can meet up tomorrow or Sunday just make sure to get plenty pictures of the avengers for me."

"I'm not sure if I'll see any of them, They're still kind of.." Peter made a motion with his hand "..eh, I guess? I don't really know what happened with the whole accords thing, but they're still kind of weird." 

"Yo, whaddup, losers?" MJ chimed in, seemingly coming from no where.

"Oh, uh, Peter was just telling me about the new prototype he's been working on at home." Ned said nervously.

"Mhm, because that's not what it sounded like you were talking about a minute ago" she stared at Peter suspiciously before continuing "Nah I'm kidding, I don't really care about whatever nerd stuff you're saying, but could I have my notes back for History?" 

"Uh, yeah." He slung his backpack onto the floor, digging out a purple notebook and handed it back to MJ. "Thanks, by the way." 

"No problem, Parker." 

A honk from an expensive looking black car made the three of them turn their heads. 

"Looks like it's your ride." Mj commented once Happy roled down the window, motioning Peter to get in.

"Shoot, yeah, I'll see you guys later, I gotta go, bye." he rushed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> these two are such dorks, I love them so much. Things are gunna get angsty fast tho

ok lets see how this chapter goes

"Whoa.." Peter gaped in awe, of course he'd seen the lab before, but this was the first time he'd seen this many inventions all out at once. 

"You alright there, kiddo?" Tony chuckles, walking into the room after him "You have seen this place before"

"Yeah, I know but, o _h my gosh!_ " he practically screams "I've read about those, they're morphomatic intensitron transmutators! I've always wanted to make a prototype of my own, but I don't have enough money to buy another central processing unit." The teen looked like he was going to explode, he was so excited. 

It was times like these when Tony remembers how smart the kid is. He could easily skip through his sophomore year and go straight to junior or senior year. 

"Okay, underroos. We have like, an hour or so before you get a checkup from our med team. After that we can come back and work on some stuff." he looked around the room and glanced at the clock. "I know it took a while to get up here, and since we can't get much work done in an hour, how 'bout we order some pizza"

"Wha-really?! Mr. Sta- _Tony_. it's alright, you really don't have t-"

"Stop with the excuses, even if you don't want to eat, I am starving and I'm really craving some pizza." The billionaire knew for a fact that peter was starving, but he would never say anything because he was raised to not ask for anything and he's just so damn _stubborn_. God, this kid was going to be the death of him.

The pizza came and they ate in the living room, playing Jenga because Peter insists its fun. Tony groaned something about it being dumb, causing the young teen to pull out a second set from nowhere and stack it on top ("Now its not dumb" "You're right. Its not dumb, it's dumb^2" "Actually its dumbx2..." "You are an even bigger nerd than Bruce, I swear.") There were many times when the tower almost fell at the beginning, but now the blocks were barely holding the entire tower upwards. Tony was pacing around the room in anticipation to the next move. Eventually, the tower fell on the billionaire's turn, and the teen raised both his fists in the air, claiming victory.

"I gotta say kid, that was the most intense game of Jenga I've ever played," 

"I told you Jenga's not dumb!"

"Yeah, yeah, come on, we need to go down and get your ankle checked out."

\----

"Good Evening, Mr. Stark, Peter. The doctor is ready, she's in room four." the nurse at the front said.

Peter was growing more and more anxious about the appointment. He was never fond of doctor visits, especially with having advanced senses. The smell of rubbing alcohol, the blinding white lights, the deafening sound of the machinery. It only gets worse when he feels stressed so that doesn't help much. At least Tony is here, and just having his presence around...it's calming. 

When they had settled in the room, Dr. Renee had introduced herself and started going over the basic information. Soon, she was starting all the usual tests: reflexes, heartbeat, breathing, etc. Everything was fine with his ankle, the only thing they had to do left was the typical scoliosis test, and he'd be done. Tony stepped outside to answer a call and Dr. Renee had him pull off his shirt and touch his toes. A familiar dull ache came from his back as he reached and the doctor gave a hum of surprise.

"You can stand up now, Peter, but keep your shirt off for a minute."

"Uh, s-sure. Is there another test or-" there was a slight pause as the woman observed his back. 

"Peter, do you know where your guardian is?"

"Um, yeah, my aunt-shes back in Queens...is everything alright?"

"Peter, from how it appeared when you bent over to touch your toes, it appears that you have mild scoliosis." she said solemnly

"Scoli-what? Wait no, that--that can't be right!" he was in utter disbelief

"I'm going to need to take X-rays to see the actual degree of the curve, do you think you could bring your guardian here?"

Suddenly Tony walked through the door, his phone being shoved into his pocket.

"Mr. Stark, can you contact Peter's aunt, we need a guardian present to-" she was cut off

"I'm his guardian too. That call was just a confirmation call to let me know that the paper work has gone through." He sat back down on the chair beside the teen. "May said she knew she'd need me in case there's some medical emergency going on. Just glad I got it sooner than later, huh kiddo." he directed the explanation more towards Peter than Dr. Renee.

"Alright, so I'm going to need to take an X-ray of him and possibly an MRI. You can get out of here after we take them, but we may have to call you back down here." 

The medical physician left, leaving the two males alone. The younger put his shirt back on, starting to explain what had happened while the older man was gone. The billionaire gave Peter a sympathetic side hug, then a nurse came around to notify the two that they were about to take X-rays

\---

"How you holding up, buckaroo?" Tony said standing at the door frame, watching Peter lay upside down on his bed with a sad look in his eyes. 

He didn't respond.

"Look" he moved towards the kid "I'm sorry that you've got scoliosis, but I promise we got the best doctors who know how to treat you."

Still silence.

"Have you called May yet?"

"..." he moved to sit upright "Yeah. She said I could stay the weekend here too in case they needed me again." he mumbled

The two sat there not saying anything until

"Did you hear what they were telling me?" Peter said

When Tony didn't say anything, he continued "They told me that I'd probably never get to do any kind of physical activity again. I won't get to be spiderman anymore..." 

"Aw Pete,"

"I-I can't _not_ be spiderman! He's-Spiderman is like, the only thing I actually enjoy doing anymore! School is full of depressed teens like me that are stressed 24/7, I dropped a bunch of clubs because of going out and fighting and the only one I kept was decathlon, but that sucks too!" Peter's hands were in fists and his voice had rose. Tony looked stunned 

"I-I'm sorry. I think I'm just gunna go to bed." 

The older man wanted to say something, anything to make the kid feel better, but he couldn't think of anything fast enough. He decided to just give the boy some room and they could always work on stuff tomorrow.


	4. peters going through some stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I can use my knowledge of scoliosis for something. 
> 
> Lots of science talk in this chapter, it’s all stuff I was told when I found out I had scoliosis, and the whole thing is just based off of my personal experience with it all. I’m still going through physical therapy rn so I guess this work is like just a vent thing for me. I hate it so much, but I know it’s supposed to help me.

Peter couldn’t sleep. 

He went to bed early just so that he wouldn’t have to face Mr. Stark, but he just couldn’t fall asleep. 

His brain went a million miles a second and wouldn’t just shut up. It was infuriating. He has a healing factor, shouldn’t that have done _something_ to help his spine? Of course not because of his stupid Parker Luck. 

They took two X-rays, one of his upper back and the other of his lower back, and were stitching them together to have one smooth image of his spine. Peter hadn’t seen it yet. He didn’t want to. 

His back didn’t really hurt anyways, it was just sometimes his ribcage ached, or his hip just felt weird, or it just bugged to bend over. It wasn’t bad, so why can’t he do physical activities? 

He glanced at the clock, 2:37 am. 

Fun. 

The next morning, Peter got up with a start. He’d have to face this sooner or later, might as well do it now. He swung his legs over the edge and stood up, stretching. 

His joints cracked and he got up to change into his Spider-Man T-shirt and some jeans. 

When he walked about of his room, he could smell pancakes and his mouth watered. 

“Ah, so he _is_ alive” Mr. Stark greets him as he takes a seat. 

“Morning, Mr. Stark” he says with a tired smile. 

“Hey I got the results back from the X-rays if you want to look at them. I promise I didn’t see them already” the man pulls out a large envelope from below the counter. 

Anxiety bubbles in the pit of his stomach. Peter nods. 

He opens it up and takes out the picture. He gasps in surprise. 

The teen’s spine looks almost fake. It curves like a snake, his upper curved bends to the right while the bottom takes a sharp turn left. 

There’s lines already drawn on, showing where his spine should be and counting the degree of his curve. 

Looks like it was more severe than he thought. The top curve was 53° and the bottom 61° 

Fuck. 

He placed the image down on the counter and Mr. Stark moved to look at it too. Peters eyes started watering and he had a lump in his throat. 

“Shit, kid” his mentor looked up “we have another meeting with Dr. Renee, we can talk about all of this with her okay. It’s not for another few hours, so let’s just not worry about this for now”

Peter can tell he’s trying to comfort him, but he doesn’t want comfort right now. He just doesn’t want this to be true. Why do things like this always have to happen to him? 

He nods, not wanting to talk. 

———

By the time they had to go back down to talk with Dr. Renee again, Peter was ready to punch something with the anount of rage he was feeling. It’s not fair. Nothing’s ever fair. 

Instead of screaming and crying and running out to be Spider-Man and punch criminals until his fists bled, he keep the same passive expression on his face, trying to act calm. 

“Mr. Parker, I assume you’ve seen the X-rays?” 

“Yeah” 

“Alright, so we’ve determined that your case was a lot more severe than we had first anticipated. I wanted to discuss with you and with..your guardian..about your options” she says

“Okay, let’s do this then” Mr Stark says, sitting back in his seat. 

“Peter, you have an ‘S’ curve, and I’m sure you’ve already seen the degrees of the curves, but they are unfortunately in surgery range. Anything around 50° is when we say you need surgery.”

His stomach churns, Peter doesn’t have the money to pay for surgery, nor does he want one. 

“Surgery?” The billionaire asks, looking shocked

“Yes, surgery. Peter is still growing, and though his scoliosis could very much just stay at this stage and not advance any further, there is still the chance it does get worse. If we do the surgery, we correct and fuse the spine as best of our ability and can stop it’s progress”

“Fuse his spine huh..will he be able to go back to his regular life after this?” He says, turning to give a wink at Peter for the irony. 

His life was anything but regular up to this point. 

“For the most part, yes. After the procedure, he will need a few months of physical therapy. Once that is complete he can live like any regular teenaged boy alone with some restrictions.”

This time, it was Peter who butt in “what kind of restrictions exactly?”

“Well you won’t be able to do most physical activities, anything that caused too much stress on the spine is bad”

“So I can’t do anything then”

“You can do lots of things, Mr. Parker, there will just be restrictions”

He deflates in his chair, his mentor puts a comforting hand on his knee then turns to ask another question.

“You said we had other options, what are they?”

“Well, the only other one I could think would be benificial is just plain physical therapy. Though, the research there is rather new so they don’t have as much data to back up their work.”

“And what do they do?”

“They work to train your spine to correct itself. The muscles in your spine tighten on one side while they relax on the others, causing it to curve, in theory, if they are able to release the tension on one side and regain strength in the other, then the muscles would be able to hold the spine upright again.” 

Peter could understand what they were talking about, but all he could think of was how did he get it? It’s not a disease, so was it hereditary? Was it a mutation of his genes, did it come from his spider bite?

“Excuse me, Dr. Renee, but what exactly causes my scoliosis. We’ve been talking about it, but how did I get it?”

“Well, it’s idiopathic, we know nothing to how it starts. Some people are born already with some form of abnormality which later leads to their scoliosis, but for others we have no clue”

Great. That makes him feel _so_ much better. 

“Dr Renee, how long would the treatment be if we went the alternative route” 

“It’s hard to say, I’m not even too sure it works. The experts in that field tell me that I’m just months they have reduced some patients 30% of their curve”

“And over a longer course if time, would they be able to completely get rid of the curve?” Mr. Stark pulls his hand back from the kid’s knee, sitting forward 

“I assume so”

“Then he’d would be able to work as though he never had it in the first place, no restrictions.”

“Well yes but-“

“We’re going to go with the alternative route, Dr. Renee if that’s okay with you”

“I see, however I must highly recommend that-“ 

“Yes, and if it doesn’t work, we might go back to that. Thank you, I think we’re done here”

———

Walking out of medbay, Peter felt a whirlwind of emotions. He was still angry about having scoliosis in general, but there’s a chance it could completely go away. However, it could be for nothing and he would still need to get the surgery and shit, he had no money how is he supposed to pay for this. 

“Hey kiddo, how you feeling? He asks as Peter stares down at his hands 

“Mr. Stark, I have no money.” He confesses honestly 

“Don’t worry about that, do you really think I wouldn’t pay for it? I’ve got you covered, but I want to know how you feel about this whole thing.” The Man puts a hand in his shoulder, bringing him closer. 

“I’m just-I—I’ll be fine I guess.” 

“You don’t look to fine”

“It’s just, I guess I just have the worst luck in the world, Mr. Stark”

“Why do you say so?”

“..nevermind. Forget what I said, I need to work on some Calculus homework.” Peter twisted away, walking back to his room alone. 

This was going to be one _long_ weekend.


End file.
